COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio State women’s basketball team dropped a tough one Sunday afternoon, 81-74, to visiting Iowa, giving the Hawkeyes their first win at Value City Arena since the building opened in 1998. The Buckeyes trailed by as much as 17 points and made a furious comeback in the second half, cutting the lead to two several times, but were unable to get over the hump.

The loss is the second in a row for Ohio State as the Buckeyes fall to 12-9 and 2-3 in the Big Ten. Iowa improves to 15-5 and 3-3 overall.

Down by 13 with 11:43 remaining, the Buckeyes caught fire and went on an 11-0 run over the next two and a half minutes, highlighted by three layups by Ashley Adams, bringing the season-high 7,567 fans to their feet.

Both teams then traded baskets over the next 5 minutes before Iowa hit two straight field goals with under 4 minutes left to push the lead to seven, 73-66, with 4:03 left. Ohio State tried to make one last charge, cutting the lead to three on three different occasions, but just weren’t able to get the stops defensively as Iowa sealed the win from the line, six in a row coming from Ally Disterhoft to close out the game.

Iowa made 17 of 19 from the line overall, including 12 of 12 from Disterhoft who led the Hawkeyes with 24 points and 10 rebounds.

Ameryst Alston played a great game once again for the Buckeyes, scoring a team-high 24 points on 11 of 19 from the field with two 3-point field goals. Martina Ellerbe continued her solid play as well, scoring 17 on 8 of 10 shooting. Raven Ferguson added 11 points off the bench.

Ohio State was slow out of the gates as Iowa got free for several open looks from long range to build a 17-point first half lead. After a couple timeouts, Ohio State regrouped and started taking away those open looks and backdoor cuts. Iowa, who shot 56 percent in the first half, would lead 49-36 at the break.

Ohio State’s defense was much better in the second 20 minutes as they held Iowa to 39 percent shooting.

The Buckeyes are back in action at 7 p.m. Thursday at Michigan before returning home next Sunday vs. Michigan State.